Captive Audience

New York Deaf Theatre Ltd. presents seven of David Ives' wacky short plays, hysterical and touching meditations on life, death, and the endless golden donut of love, performed simultaneously in ASL and voice. More…

This short play collection has it all - two mayflies on a date realizing they only have one day to live; television that becomes a bit too real and starts taking over; a tourist buying a souvenir while the interpreter facilitating the conversation decides to play matchmaker; a woman seeking help because she has a recurring problem with the number two; elderly ladies preparing a funeral dinner while reflecting on life and being urinated on by ducks; and a police investigator attempting to solve the murder of a man who seems to enjoy furniture just a bit too much. These seven works by David Ives, along with an ensemble of eight actors - four deaf and four hearing - present the perfect opportunity to explore the many different ways ASL can change the way you look at a play.

"New York Deaf Theatre offers a smart bilingual presentation that is also a lot of fun. David Ives and New York Deaf Theatre make sense as a match. His writing is very much about language and its shows incorporate two of them—spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL)...How would that work within the wordplay and pun-heavy world of Ives? Very well, actually, thanks to some smart choices from director Garrett Zuercher."
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"There’s little middle ground in 'Captive Audience,' a collection of short works by David Ives: Each play here either sinks onstage or is wonderful to watch. Though, to the credit of the cast, even the pieces that wane don’t lack for trying...In the best pieces, the combined languages create a kind of poetry, while the synchronized movements fashion a kind of ballet. Other plays, however, just aren’t suited to the process."
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